Nick Clegg makes a speech during the opening day of the Liberal Democrat spring party conference on March 8, 2013 in Brighton. Photograph: Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images

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8.13pm GMT

Afternoon summary

• Nick Clegg has told Lib Dem activists that there is no simple "magic wand" solution to Britain's growth problems. His comments sounded like a rebuke to Vince Cable, who believes the government should borrow more to fund a house building programme. This is what Clegg told the conference during his Q&A.

I just don't believe there is one single button to be pushed, policy to be signed off, magic wand to be waved which creates growth [quickly] ... I'm as restless as anybody else to make sure that we see growth materialise [as fast as possible]. But I equally don't think we should fool ourselves, or anybody else, to suggest this is in any way easy.

If you are talking about under 1% of GDP [roughly £14bn], that is hardly going to shake the world. It depends on how you do it – giving local authorities powers to build council houses seems to be a bit of a no-brainer. It can be done quickly. There is the capacity there and it directly helps the sector of the economy that faces the greatest weakness, which is construction, glass, cement, bricks, many of which are in serious trouble. That is quite different from spending vast sums of money on new infrastructure.

• Clegg has accused critics of the government's "secret courts" legislation of misrepresenting what the government is doing. Several delegates strongly criticised Clegg's decision to force Lib Dem MPs to vote in favour of the measure, which will allow intelligence evidence to be heard in private in certain civil court proceedings. Clegg said the plans were being misrepresented.

I think there has been some really, really mischievous and misleading accounts of what this measure is.

The plans did not cover criminal cases, he said, and judges would decide when the "closed material proceedings" were used. But he was unable to fully answer delegates who complained that Lib Dem MPs were supporting a measure that was against official party policy. Clegg said that, with the Tories and Labour in favour, it was "arithmetically impossible" for the Lib Dems to block the plans.

• Activists have complained about a decision to refuse to allow an emergency debate on the economy tomorrow. Time has been set aside for two emergency debates, and, when delegates voted on the subjects to be debated, they chose first secret courts, second the economy, and third the Leveson report. But the party's federal conference committee said that Leveson should take priority over the economy because an economy debate would take a full hour, not the half hour allowed.

Almost 200 delegates backed a procedural bid to attempt to have the decision overturned, but they were unsuccessful because they did not win the vote with a two thirds majority. Here's what Linda Jack, chair of Liberal Left, said about the federal conference committee's decision on Twitter.

• The Lib Dems have backed a motion saying that legal aid should be available for some cases going to social security tribunals.

That's all from me for today.

I'll be blogging again from the conference tomorrow, when we've got Nick Clegg's speech.

Thanks for the comments.

8.13pm GMT

The Q&A is over.

I'll post a summary shortly.

8.13pm GMT

Q: How do we persuade the public that voting for Ukip is bad for Britain?

Where do I start, asks Clegg.

Ukip fills a gap in British politics. There will always be a group of people who don't like the way the world is. They will never vote Lib Dem. Ukip appeals to them. And Nigel Farage is a "colourful, engaging campaigner".

Clegg says pulling out of the EU would destroy jobs.

And their tax policies are dangerous. They want flat taxes, with massive tax cuts for the rich. And they want to slash public spending, while also allocating more for defence.

Ukip are in a "sweet spot" in UK politics, where people do no scrutinise them. "Maybe we have been there before", he admits.

8.13pm GMT

Q: On the "bedroom tax", wouldn't it be fairer not to take benefit away until people have been offered property with fewer rooms?

Clegg says every change to the benefits system is controversial.

The DWP is looking at ways of changing the definition of a spare room, so that the "harshest cases" are protected.

But people in the private rented sector have limited housing benefit, he says.

8.13pm GMT

Q: But why are Lib Dem MPs voting for something [secret courts] which is against Lib Dem policy?

Clegg says the party wants to block the secret courts proposal. But he cannot stop parliament voting for that. The Lib Dems only won 57 seats, he says.

[That does not actually answer the question.]

Q: Civil liberties are our USP. We have had Liberal Democrats take this through parliament. We should not be determining what we do on the basis of what Labour do.

Clegg says there has been some "mischievous" and misleading reporting about secret courts.

The joint committee on human rights has accepted the secret courts principle.

It is not surprising this causes anguish to the Lib Dems, he says.

But the status quo cannot be satisfactory. It cannot be right that "people who wish us harm" can make claims against the state, and that the state cannot defend itself.

8.13pm GMT

Q: Won't the government's illiberal stance harm the party in the future?

Clegg says that's why he does not want this debate to be framed by the Lib Dems' opponents.

He says the joint committee on human rights did not oppose the bill entirely.

The Tories and Labour both supported the bill. So it would have been impossible to block it, he says.

8.13pm GMT

Q: How can the Liberal Democrats support secret courts, and people not knowing the charges against them?

Clegg says he knows how strongly people feel about this.

But it is important to know what is being proposed. The government's plans relate to civil cases. They have nothing to do with cases involving people being charged.

Please don't allege that this government, with Liberal Democrats in it, is doing something abhorrently illiberal, which we are not.

He says the proposals are designed to allow the security services to defence compensation claims.

A judge will have the power to decide if closed material proceedings are used.

There have been some "very hyperbolic claims" about this, he says.

8.13pm GMT

Q: What do you think about Philip Hammond calling for more welfare cuts?

Clegg says Hammond was defending his own department's budget.

He says he wants to make two points. First, the Lib Dems are not opposed to welfare reform. The welfare budget accounts for a third of government spending. You cannot cut spending without touching it.

But he says the Lib Dems want to protect the poorest. This is an area where they are different from the Tories.

Clegg says the Lib Dems would not support like-for-like Trident replacement.

And the Lib Dems would cut benefits for wealthy pensioners. Vince Cable mentioned this in his Guardian interview, he says. Why should millionaires get these benefits? Clegg implies Cable is a millionaire, and then corrects himself.

8.13pm GMT

Q: [From Brian Paddick] If the Tories did "butt out", would there be more emphasis on growth?

Clegg says there is no magic solution that could produce growth. He is "restless" for growth. But he does not want to fool anyone by suggesting it is easy.

A combination of things is needed, he says. Britain has to live within its means.

Inflation hit the economy more than anything else. It went up to 5.2%, he says. That's very regressive.

He says there needs to be more lending. Funding for Lending is staring to have an effect.

The Lib Dems have to be "candid" about this will be a slow, painstaking journey.

8.13pm GMT

Q: When are we going to stop apologising? I see you on the TV apologising, and Tim Farron apologising. Let's talk about the good things we do.

(This gets a round of applause.)

Clegg says he agrees. It is important not to be brow-beaten, he says.

But, as a campaigner, he knows people do not hear your achievements until you have gone on and on and on about them.

He says the Lib Dems need to be more disciplined about repeating their message.

And he says Labour should apologise. Have you ever heard Ed Balls apologise for the mess he left?

8.13pm GMT

Nick Clegg Q&A

Nick Clegg is on stage now.

Q: Someone told me recently the Lib Dems should "butt out" and leave the Tories to sort out the economy. What should I say to people like that?

Clegg goes into a rather boring answer about the things the Lib Dems are doing in government, but then he makes a slip of the tongue, saying "Ed Balls" instead of "Ed Davey" when he is talking about energy policy. Delegates jeer, although at Balls (I think), not Clegg.

8.13pm GMT

Tomorrow an hour has been set aside for emergency motions.

The results of the emergency ballots votes have just been announced, and secret courts came first. So there will be a debate on secret courts, and also on the Leveson report.

The emergency motion on the economy actually came second, but it was disallowed on the grounds that it could not properly be debated in half an hour.

8.13pm GMT

The motion on revitalising the rural economy has been approved unanimously.

The Q&A with Nick Clegg is about to start.

8.13pm GMT

In his Guardian interview published today Vince Cable, the business secretary, implicitly criticised the Treasury for wanting to push public spending cuts too far. (See 9.23am.) At a fringe meeting last night he went further, accusing some Tories of being engaged in an "ideological jihad" against the public sector.

There is going to be pressure on public spending and I think what we have to make absolutely clear as a party that there is a difference between managing public spending in that context, we have to have financial wisdom, and the kind of thing that a lot of right-wing Conservatives are pushing for which is Tea Party, some kind of ideological jihad against public spending and public services.

David Heath, the farming minister and MP for Somerton and Frome, has just delivered a speech in the rural economy debate. He said that he understood the problems caused by poor internet connections in the countryside. Where he lives, a runner with a cleft stick would be faster than the broadband he gets, he says. And he said could not even get a mobile phone signal in his home - "or at least that's what I tell the whips".

Then he turned to transport.

In my village you don't get a bus every hour. You get one a week, and it comes back the following week. So don't assume that young people growing up in rural areas have access to training and skills in the same way that their colleagues in towns and cities do. And don't tell people who can't afford regular increases in petrol that it's because they are just determined not to use the alternatives. There aren't alternatives in many rural areas.

8.13pm GMT

Nick Clegg praised Chris Huhne as an "oustanding" politician at a fringe meeting at the conference at lunchtime Clegg was speaking at an event where delegates were discussing a new book on Lib Dem environmental policy, the Green Book. Huhne has contributed two chapters to it.

This is what Clegg said about him.

Whatever is going on with Chris and Vicky [Pryce, Huhne's ex-wife] ... not only was he an outstanding local constituency MP he was also an extremely powerful thinker and indeed an very effective secretary of state. The fact that he has contributed two chapters on very important policies is very good to see. I hope people register that.

8.13pm GMT

In the conference hall delegates have now just started a debate on revitalising the rural economy. It calls for more high speed broadband, a sustainable rural jobs fund and the extension of the rural fuel rebate scheme.

Perhaps the more interesting findings are what the poll says about the Liberal Democrats – the Con-v-Lab battle normally follows national polls, the Lib Dem battleground is sometimes different. When PoliticsHome asked the two stage voting intention question structure [ie, how would you vote, then how would you vote in your own constituency] back in 2009 it found the Lib Dems did 10 points better in LD-Con seats when people were prompted to think about their own constituency (and conseqently was actually quite a good pointer to how well they’d do at the 2010 election – it had them getting 55 seats, compared to the 57 they actually got). In the Ashcroft poll today the tactical/incumbency boost the Lib Dems get in LD-Con seats when people are prompted to think about their own constituency is a mighty 13 points.

This is naturally good news for the Liberal Democrats, but still means they will lose a lot of seats. The reason that tactical/incumbency boost is bigger is probably simply because they are starting from a much lower base. Even with this prompting the poll suggests the Lib Dems will lose around 17 seats to the Conservatives. In seats where they are up against Labour the swing is bigger, the tactical/incumbency boost is smaller, and the Lib Dems face wipeout. Overall, if this poll was reflected at the next general election – still two years away remember- it would leave the Lib Dems with around 25 seats, a very sizeable loss, but not the complete wipeout that some have predicted, feared or hoped for.

8.13pm GMT

Earlier I mention the Ashcroft research on the Lib Dems. (See 10.55am.)

Because the sample for this poll was the whole country. But, thanks to our electoral system, the Lib Dems’ election will essentially be fought in the 57 seats that the party currently holds, plus a handful of target seats. And we don’t know whether the national opinions map onto the local ones …

8.13pm GMT

A nice spot from my colleague Patrick Wintour.

8.13pm GMT

Lunchtime summary

• A new poll has been published suggesting that Labour is on course to win the general election with a majority of 84 - and that the Liberal Democrats are set to lose 30 seats. As the Press Association reports, the research from Lord Ashcroft suggests that if an election were held tomorrow, Labour would gain 109 seats, taking them to a total of 367 MPs and giving them a majority of 84. The research found there would be an 8% swing to the Opposition in the most closely contested seats. It comes amid reports that a canvass of Tory activists found just 7% believe David Cameron will secure victory in 2015. Nearly 20,000 voters in 213 constituencies were polled for the Ashcroft study which found Labour would win 93 of the 109 most marginal Tory seats, with the biggest swing to the Opposition in the Thames Estuary and the Midlands. Based on the research, the Lib Dems would lose 17 constituencies in England and Wales to their coalition colleagues and 13 to Labour. Here's an extract from the research which also suggests that, despite their byelection victory in Eastleigh, the Lib Dems will lost the seat to the Conservatives in 2015.

The data will make uncomfortable reading for the Liberal Democrats. As is often the case, very different results emerge from Lib Dem-held seats according to whether you ask the standard voting intention question – “if there were an election tomorrow, which party would you vote?” – or a version which reminds them of their local circumstances – “and thinking specifically about your own constituency and the candidates who are likely to stand there, which party’s candidate do you think you will vote for?” Even on this second question, the results imply a swing to the Conservatives of around 5 points. On these figures, Cameron stands to gain 17 seats from his coalition colleague in England and Wales. The findings suggest that one of these would be Eastleigh, which would fall to the Conservatives on the basis of the swing the cluster of similar seats. This backs up the findings of my election-day poll which showed the by-election result would not necessarily be repeated at a general election.

In reality, as Eastleigh showed, an election against the Lib Dems is never over until it’s over, and there will be a large number of very fierce fights. But things look a good deal bleaker for the party in seats where Labour are second. The implied 17-point swing would deprive Nick Clegg of all but two Lib Dem seats where Labour are currently second: Ross, Skye & Lochaber, and Orkney & Shetland (where in 2010 Alistair Carmichael received nearly six times as many votes as his nearest challenger). Labour also stand to gain two seats – Cambridge and Leeds North West – where they are currently third.

• Lord Ashdown, the former leader and now the party's general election coordinator, has told activists that there are "great victories" ahead if they learn the lessons of Eastleigh and campaign hard. In a speech that was full of passion but free of any new announcements, he said that in 2015, for the first time in 70 years, they would fight the election as a party of government.

I’m not going to gloss this. In some ways what’s ahead is more difficult than it was then; with the legacy of Labour’s economic disaster to overcome, with Tory heartlessness to fight, and tough decisions to take in government.

But in some ways its easier, too. Now we have a message which is clear. A record in government to be proud of. And an outstanding team of Ministers who easily outshine anything the other parties can offer.

Webb says he wants "nothing to do with the demonisation of people on benefits". This gets a round of applause.

Yet Liam Byrne, the shadow work and pensions secretary, told his own party that he was in favour of workers, not shirkers, Webb says. Webb describes this as dogwhistle politics.

8.13pm GMT

Webb is now talking about auto-enrollment (the system meaning that workers are automatically enrolled into a company pension scheme, unless they opt out). It has been a stunning success, he says. "That's why you haven't heard about it."

8.13pm GMT

Steve Webb, the pensions minister, is speaking now.

The challenge for the party is this: How do you create a fairer society when you are broke?

In the hall delegates were given the chance to give a one-minute speech proposing an idea for the manifesto.

We've just heard from Paddy Ashdown from Yeovil who (amazingly) managed to keep to his 60-second limit. He called for a "real revolution in favour of distance learning". Universities should provide more education through the internet, he said. They should become "the centre of educational networks". This would reduce costs and widen access, he said.

Other proposals from speakers have included: allowing voting at 16; PR for local elections; more taxes on wealth; measures to promote 'inter-generational fairness; a commitment to building a "stronger, greener economy" and not just a "stronger economy (see 11.46am); and the inclusion in the manifesto of a reference to what the Lib Dems would do in the event of a hung parliament.

8.13pm GMT

And while we're on the subject of Tim Farron, he told BBC News this morning that Eastleigh was the the most important byelection since 1945.

The party conference is in staggeringly good mood, we have just own the most important by-election since the second world war.

Previously the biggest claim for Eastleigh, I think, was that it was the most important byelection for 30 years.

[Farron] reserves his most severe comments for George Osborne, slamming the decision to cut the top-rate of tax for those earning more than £150,000 from 50p to 45p. “Cutting the top-rate was a stupid thing to do. It probably raised up to £3bn a year. We should pledge to restore the 50p rate at the next election. It’s not enough to be fair, you have to be seen to be fair.” He’s no keener on the Chancellor’s rhetoric against claimants who ‘keep their blinds down’ while others head off to work: “We’ve seen a continued reduction in unemployment even during this last year. Many people are working for less money. It disproves Osborne on ‘shirkers’ – people are proving they want to work and want to stay off benefits.”

Ashdown's speech - Summary

• Ashdown said that the Eastleigh byelection showed that the Lib Dems could win if they worked hard and organised well.

You are the engine which drives this Party; you are its force and its most important asset. I know that if we can together unleash that energy – as we have done in difficult times before, as we did just a week ago in Eastleigh, then there is nothing that is impossible for us. So I am going to make no apologies for driving us all very hard these next two years.

And you know why? Because the message of Eastleigh is very clear – and we know it very well. Where we work, we win. And I am determined that we will win so you had better get working!

If you do, then I promise you there are great victories ahead. Good campaigning and good luck.

• He said the party would fight the next election as a party of government for the first time, and that this meant it would be able to talk about its achievements.

Let me tell you what this means for you. Now and for the first time, you can twin a local message of achievement you can be proud of, with a national message of achievement to be proud of too.

That’s what we did in Eastleigh; its one of the reasons we won in Eastleigh – telling people again and again about our local and our national achievements. And its what we have to do in our leaflets and on the door step this coming May, in the elections next year and in the build up to the General Election beyond.

• He said the party's core election message would be about its commitment to "build a stronger economy in a fairer society, enabling everyone to get on in life".

• He said the Lib Dems had gained 11 seats in local election byelections since September, and lost none.

8.13pm GMT

David Laws, the education minister, is now introducing a consultative session on the manifesto.

8.13pm GMT

It's over. Ashdown gets a standing ovation.

8.13pm GMT

Ashdown says the Lib Dems face a big fight at the election.

But he likes a good fight, he says. And party members do to.

If they campaign hard enough, nothing is impossible.

The message of Eastleigh is very clear. "Where we work, we win," he says.

And he is going to ensure the party does campaign to win. If it does, there are great victories ahead, he says.

8.13pm GMT

Ashdown says there have been 77 local election byelections since September. The Lib Dems have gained 11 seats. And how many have they lost? None. "Not one. Not a blinking, bloody sausage."

8.13pm GMT

Ashdown says the party will be able to show that it has already taken steps to build a stronger economy in a fairer society.

Activists will be able to combine a local message of acheivement with a national message of achievement. "That's what we did in Eastleigh," he says.

Quoting the late David Penhallgon, he says: "If you've got something to say, stick it on a leaflet and wack it through a letter box."

8.13pm GMT

Ashdown says activists will get bored of the party's message - that it wants to build a stronger economy in a fairer society.

But voters will only start to register it when members get bored of repeating it, he says.

8.13pm GMT

Ashdown says he believes exactly what he did 20 years ago.

The Lib Dems are the "grit" in the oyster of British politics.

For grit to work, it's got to be on the inside, he says.

The next election will be different because the Lib Dems will contest it as insiders, not outsiders.

That means the Lib Dems' enemies will come for them. The party's message will have to be tighter, and it will have to be more disciplined.

8.13pm GMT

Ashdown says the simple liberal demand is that every citizen should be able to live their life to the full.

Lib Dem members need to be "immodest" in their ambitions.

When campaigners are tempted to give up campaigning on a cold night, they should not give up. Behind the door might be the next Nick Clegg.

Some people tell their children that it's not the winning that matters, it's the taking part. "That's bollocks," says Ashdown.

He says the speech he made at the Lib Dem conference after the party won the Eastleigh byelection in 1994 talked about the need for the party to overturn paternalism.

He quotes a huge chunk from the speech.

8.13pm GMT

Ashdown reminds his audience that he gave up his job to campaign to become a Liberal MP. When he went to Yeovil, it was a safe Tory seat. There were only five members of the party. "Average age - deceased." And the party leader (Jeremy Thorpe) was being arraigned at the Old Bailey for murder. "You think you've got it hard now?"

8.13pm GMT

Lord Ashdown's speech

Lord Ashdown is speaking now. He is the general election coordinator.

He says he wants the Lib Dems to be in government again.

"I was not born a Liberal," he says. He became one when a man in a bobble hat came to his door. Ashdown told him that he was not interested in politics. But the man was insistent. He persuaded Ashdown the liberalism was "a million miles" from the centralism of Labour, and the heartlessness of the Conservatives.

8.13pm GMT

The Lib Dem motion saying all teachers, including ones in academies and free schools, should have proper qualifications was overwhelmingly carried.

Ashcroft released the findings at the other conference taking place today, the ConservativeHome one. (See 9.23am.)

8.13pm GMT

If you are interested in the Lib Dems (and I presume you must be, if you are reading this on a Saturday morning) then do take a look at the latest Lord Ashcroft research on the party.

In recent years Ashchroft has been spending a fortune on polling and the reports he publishes are as interesting and insightful as any political research being published by anyone in the UK. This week he turned his focus on the Lib Dems.

His key finding was that only 29% of people who voted Lib Dem in 2010 say they would do so again in 2015. In some respects, this is not surprising, he argues.

The decision to enter coalition with the Conservatives did not so much cause the Lib Dems’ weakness as expose it. In this sense the party’s problem is analogous to the financial crisis. Lib Dem support in the years before 2010 was a bubble; it was over-leveraged, with inflated commitments it never expected to be asked to meet. Worst of all, these expectations were contradictory. A few people voted Liberal Democrat because they agreed with what the party stood for. Some voted because they were not Labour, and some because they were not the Tories. Rather more supported them because they were neither.

But it's not all gloomy for Clegg. "Despite everything, the Lib Dems’ brand values – the sense that they stand for fairness and ordinary people – remain surprisingly strong," Ashcroft says.

8.13pm GMT

Delegates are now debating a motion saying all teachers, including those in academies and free schools, should have proper teaching qualifications.

8.13pm GMT

The proposed change to the leadership election rules (see 9.57am) was defeated overwhelmingly.

Among those speaking against it was Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem deputy leader.

He said that having a debate on changing the leadership election rules at this point was "just mad" because it suggested there were doubts about Nick Clegg's leadership. Hughes said he wanted the Lib Dems to be in government not just once, but in the future too, "and not as a minority party in government, but as a majority party in government".

He also expressed his personal support for Clegg. Clegg was the first leader of the party to take it into government for 70 years, he said. Clegg prevented Britain having a Tory minority government, which would almost certainly have led to a Tory majority government.

And if we had done that, my friends, we would really be complaining.

Hughes said that Clegg had shown that coalitions can work, and that that had changed British politics for ever.

8.13pm GMT

I'm in the hall at the conference now where delegates are debating a proposed change to the leadership rules. There must be at least 200 people in the room. The Lib Dems do like their constitutional debates.

One advantage of this process is that it has allowed us to find out what the leadership elections rules actually say. At the moment a leadership election must take place if the leader calls one, if the leader dies or becomes incapacited or if he or she ceases to be an MP. Opponents can also trigger a contest, either by getting a majority of all members of the parliamentary party to pass a vote of no confidence or by getting 75 local parties to demand a leadership election following decisions of quorate general meetings. The rules also say that there should be a leadership election (if one has not already taken place) within a year of a general election, unless the leader is in government or the federal executive exercises its right to postpone such an election for a year.

The motion being debated this morning would amend the rules to allow members to trigger a leadership election by getting a two thirds majority at conference.

The debate has been going on for almost half an hour now, and it feels as if the proposed amendment to the constitution will be defeated. Several speakers have pointed out that under this proposal just 10 people would be able to get a vote on the leadership onto the conference agenda, and that this would be destabilising.

Speaking to the Guardian, Cable said political disagreements over future spending plans were so intense that it was an option not to complete the planned coalition spending review this year, due to cover 2015-16.

In comments likely to further inflame tensions between ministers he said: "If you keep going back to the same departments taking more than proportional cuts, you do disproportionate damage."

Cable challenged the whole premise of the spending review, including Cameron's insistence that the schools, health, aid and defence equipment budgets must be excluded from the cuts, as they have been since 2010.

The decision is leading to a revolt by the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office and the business department for which Cable claims to be the shop steward.

He said: "All our departments should be doing their bit by efficiency and reform." Negotiating publicly with the Treasury and No 10, he added: "We have done very brave things in the first spending round, but we have now got to the point where further significant cuts will do enormous damage to the things that really do matter like science, skills, innovation and universities."